What kind of Mexican are you?

We slept in and caught up on our rest this morning. In the afternoon we headed out to St. Peter's Square.... C brought us in through the columns entrance. She explains to us that this is how Bernini intended for viewers to enter the square. Since his time, folks have created a big street leading into the square, whereby you see the Vatican from far away and it just gradually keeps getting bigger and bigger, and by the time you get to it you are not too impressed with it any more. However, if you enter through the columns then you see it all at once and you are overwhelmed with the scale and beauty. Also, he intended the round buildings encircling the square to be like mother's arms reaching out to hug her childeren. This is such a beautiful design. And the moment you enter, you just suck in your breath to see such magnificence around you and not to mention that you are in the cradle of life for the Catholic church. The obelisk in the middle marks where the tomb of St. Peters is. Talk about Tradition with a capitol T.

It strikes me after visiting Roman ruins that such a magnificent culture in terms of progress and culture was brought to such absolute ruin in the period of 2000 years. When you see renderings of how magnificent these buildings were its so hard to imagine that they are simply now gone. Nothing but a small pile of rubble now. But the place where the tomb of st. peter is buried is still there. The church is the ultimate culture, and probably will still be there in another 2000. Our culture is simply nothing without Christ.

Walking up to the altar where the Pope has his outside masses, I feel like I am walking over the very steps that John Paul II walked so many times, and also so many pope before him. What Holy ground. Entering, you see the Pieta first off to your right. It strikes me as smaller than I envisioned, but absolutely beautiful to see in 3 dimensions. So feminine and soft. You can feel Mary's gentle spirit just by looking at it. Of course the altar and the Holy Spirit Euchrast Holder thingy by Bernini is spectacular. In no other spot have I ever felt so powerfully the majesty and grandeur of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Their presence here is palpable. Another favorite spot was some crypt which has a golden skeleton over the door with has an arm reaching out of the crypt, desperately clutching an hourglass. Carpe Diem indeed.

Next we have to visit the "WalMart" of religious artificats to grab keychains, Rosaires, Holy Cards.... etc. We find some delightful Venecian glass and all three get a necklace.

We head to Testavere for dinner. Testavere is on the other side of the Tiber river from "Downtown" Rome and is considered more the artists area. The sun is sinking as we stroll down the little cobblestone alleys. We stop to have a half bottle of wine and little free snacks in a very romantic cafe. It is good to sit and talk about life and the stresses we each have in our work.
We stroll down the street to see the jewelry craft stands. Each stand has their delightful selection and a lantern burning in the middle of their stand. As you look over the selection the guy moves the lantern in the same direction. PUITA and I each get a lovely scarf. I just can't describe how romantic this street is with little lights burning and all the artisians with their goods displayed. Sigh, we are so peaceful. We head to the restaurant. C swears that we must try the veal chop, while she goes for soup. The veal chop tastes like the best pork chop that melts in your mouth you have ever had. Cristina asks for Parmesan cheese in her soup. The waiter gives her a little scowl and says something to her in Italian. "He doesn't want me to combine Parmesan with the soup." C lets us know. The Italians are very particular with what they think goes with each other in terms of food. "Mexicana" I tell the Waiter, shrugging and pointing to C. After a few minutes, he comes back and is waving his hands wildly, "Don't you want pepper in your soup!" "Well you didn't offer me any!" teases C, "Yes, bring me pepper!". "What kind of Mexican ARE you! , no pepper in your soup" he shouts with his hands raised to the sky! We alll nearly fall of our chairs laughing. And for his penance, we make him take a picture of all of us in front of the restaurant!